David Sets Out for the Ark
6 1 Once again David gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
2 Then David rose and went, with all the people who were with him, from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of our Father, which bears the Name, the name of the Father of heaven's armies, enthroned on the cherubim. 3 They set the ark of our Father on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of our Father, and Ahio walked ahead of the ark.
The Death of Uzzah
5 David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before our Father with all their might, with songs and lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.
6 But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out to the ark of our Father and took hold of it, for the oxen had stumbled. 7 Then the anger of our Father blazed against Uzzah, and he struck him down there for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of our Father. 1 1 v7 Our Father had given careful instructions for carrying the ark; this tragedy reveals the weight of his holy presence among his people, not a Father eager to strike his children.
8 David was angry because our Father had broken out against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. 2 2 v8 Perez-uzzah means "the outbreak against Uzzah" — the place was named for what happened there.
9 David was afraid of our Father that day, and he said, "How can the ark of our Father ever come to me?" 10 So David was unwilling to bring the ark of our Father into the City of David; instead he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of our Father remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and our Father blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem
12 Now King David was told, "Our Father has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark." So David went and brought up the ark of our Father from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
13 And when those carrying the ark of our Father had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. 14 Then David danced before our Father with all his might, wearing a linen ephod. 3 3 v14 A linen ephod was a simple priestly tunic — practical for worship, but not the formal robes expected of a king. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of our Father with shouting and with the sound of the ram's horn.
Michal's Contempt for David
16 As the ark of our Father entered the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before our Father, and she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought in the ark of our Father and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before our Father. 18 When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Father of heaven's armies. 19 Then he distributed to all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each one a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. And all the people departed, each to his own home.
20 When David returned to bless his own household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has honored himself today, uncovering himself before the eyes of the household servant girls, as any vulgar man would shamelessly uncover himself!"
21 But David said to Michal, "It was before our Father, who chose me over your father and over all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of our Father, over Israel. So I will celebrate before him." 22 And I will make myself even more lowly than this, humbled in my own eyes; but by the maidservants you spoke of, by them I will be held in honor."
23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child until the day she died.